Lily felt the sun's rays warm up her cheek as she let out a large yawn. She rolled onto her back and snaked her arms above her head, getting them tangled in her vivid red hair on the way up, and stretched. She let out another yawn before relaxing and letting her arms fall across her stomach as she turned her head to the side as she prepared herself for another hour of sleep. But then her eyes snapped open and her mouth fell into an 'o' shape. She'd just remembered…

James heard Remus starting to get up and distantly heard him talking to Peter as James groggily opened his eyes and wiped drool from his chin. He yawned widely and reached his hands up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He stretched his legs down to the foot of the bed and then relaxed as his arm hung out of his bed when he rolled onto his side. But he opened his eyes as he couldn't belive he'd forgotten…

Sarah stood in front of the mirror in the girls' dormitory and applied a thin coat of mascara to her eyelashes as the other girls showered. She blinked and rubbed her glossy lips together as she stood up and smoothed out her school robes. She ran her fingers through her curly hair and frowned as she couldn't get it to sit nicely; she reached for a bobble to pull it into a ponytail whilst her thoughts strayed to Remus. Her hand stopped halfway to her bedside table and her mouth dropped open. How could she forget?

Remus gathered his robes together in a bundle and threw on a grey t-shirt before opening the door and making his way to the showers, hoping to get some privacy before all the first years came in. He yawned and winced as he saw his hair in the reflection of the window. He stopped to ruffle it before carrying on his way. He got into a shower, turned on the already scalding water and tipped his head back, letting the water blissfully soak his hair. He lowered his face into his hands to rub it clean as the steam rose around him. He stopped dead and slowly raised his face and saw the cold white tiles in front of him.

"Oh my goodness," he said aloud.

Valentine's Day was sweeping infectiously around Hogwarts. Even all the people who were single ("Forever alone guys, forever alone," many of them said) were swooning at the sight of their crushes. You couldn't walk down the corridor without spotting at least one couple holding hands. It was especially big gossip that Ravenclaw's keeper, Ralph Gilmore and Hufflepuff's seeker, Borris Fitz had both been exceptionally brave and walked into the Great Hall holding hands.

Alice practically floated around the girls' dorm. She was in an extremely good mood when she'd woken up which had infuriated Judith to no end whilst Sarah and Lily panicked together since they'd both completely forgotten about the most romantic day of the year.

"Lily!" Sarah squealed after Lily returned from showering. "I completely forgot it was Valentine's Day!"

"You did too? Merlin, what are we going to do?!" Lily worried as she ran her hands through her freshly washed hair.

"Why do you care if it's Valentine's Day? What guy are you going to spend it with?" Judith asked glumly as she followed Lily into the room. Lily froze and her and Sarah stared at each other; Lily hadn't told Judith and Alice about her and James. Sarah wouldn't know except she was at the Potter house the days following the New Year's Eve party.

"I-I don't," Lily said, turning around and giving Judith a fake smile.

"Then stop fretting," Judith rolled her eyes. She stuffed her shoes on just as Alice waltzed into the room with a massive grin on her face… at least someone had remembered about their boyfriend.

"Frank is the cutest!" she beamed as she sat down on her bed. "I just met him in the common room and he didn't say anything he just, kissed me! He kissed me and then told me I was beautiful. He was so sweet and so gentle and just… wow, I love him so much," she let out a large sigh and sunk onto her pillows.

"Bully for you," Judith uttered under her breath and she scowled venomously at Alice from the opposite side of the room.

"He told me he has a surprise for me as well!" Alice didn't seem to notice Judith's hostility. "He told me to meet him in the Room of Requirement after classes."

"That's pretty exciting," Sarah smiled and was about to go back to panicking with Lily but Alice stopped her from doing so.

"I wonder what he has for me? I bet it's really wonderful and sweet and perfect and gorgeous and –"

"For Merlin's sake, shut up!" Judith snapped. Alice, Sarah and Lily looked up at her in surprise. Judith was standing with one hand on the door handle but she had it in a vice-like grip. She was clenching her fist so hard around the handle that her knuckles had gone white. Alice's face turned red, Sarah stared at Judith with her mouth hanging open and Lily shifted awkwardly from foot to foot.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just s-saying…"

"Well don't!" Judith shouted and she spun around to glare at Alice. "I get it that you're happy but some of us aren't! Some of us don't get to be with the person we love on Valentine's Day!"

"Judith, I-I didn't mean it in that –"

"You didn't mean it in that way. Of course you didn't. You didn't mean to throw it in my face that you're completely loved up – that all of you are completely loved up!" Judith gestured angrily to them all.

"Judith, I'm not loved up," Lily said quietly but her words were drowned in Judith's scoff.

"Yes you are! It's obvious you're going out with James Potter!"

Lily blushed furiously. "I am not!"

"Yes you are! God, Lily you're so transparent!" Judith argued. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? I see the looks you give him and I see the way you blush every time he smiles at you!"

"H-how did you -?"

"How did I know? Because they're the same looks Sirius and I used to give each other! It's same sheepish blush that I used to feel when he smiled at me!" Judith's eyes seemed unusually bright as she stared at them all. "You all remember Sirius, right? He was my boyfriend, my boyfriend who I was in love with. But of course, all of you didn't seem to care considering you had enough to keep you busy with your own boyfriends! It doesn't matter how much I'm hurting or how upset I am, all that matters is that you all get your precious time with your precious, popular, drop dead gorgeous boyfriends!"

"J-Judith…" Sarah stuttered.

"But it doesn't matter, does it? No, Judith's fine. She's tough, she doesn't need our comfort. Well sometimes she does!" Judith stomped her foot in frustration then turned around to face the door again.

"Judith –"

"We're sorry –"

"We didn't realise –"

"Just – just forget about it," Judith voice was quiet and suspiciously thick. "I'll see you all later."

And with that, she opened the door and exited the room, leaving Lily, Sarah and Alice gawking after her in a stunned silence.

"Prongs!" Remus shouted as he ran into the Marauders dorm. "Prongs!"

He'd hurried out of the shower, gotten dressed, didn't even bother to towel dry his hair, and sprinted up to his dorm. He stopped in the doorway to catch his breath as his sopping wet hair dripped down onto his clean robes. Peter was packing his bag, Sirius was getting dressed and James was pacing the room.

"What is it?" James looked up suddenly in panic.

"It's Valentine's Day!" Remus said between pants.

Sirius's head appeared out of the neck of his t-shirt and he raised his eyebrows at Remus and James. "Got something to tell us guys, or…?"

"Did you forget as well?" relief flooded James's face as he walked towards Remus with his hands in front of him.

"Yes! I didn't remember until I was in the shower…"

"Wonder why you remembered then?" Sirius said and Peter laughed but Remus and James ignored them.

"I remembered when I woke up. Oh Merlin, what on earth are we going to do?!"

"I don't know! Sarah's going to kill me –"

"Lily will do the same…"

"And what's worse, I saw Frank and Alice in the common room and, well, let's just say that Frank had definitely not forgotten."

"Oh dear," James wrung his hands together.

"I remembered," Peter piped up; Remus and James stared incredulously at him.

"And you didn't think it would be good to remind us?" James snapped.

"Well I didn't think either of you would need reminding; you both seem pretty loved up," Peter defended.

"The man's got a point," Sirius said as he shrugged on his robes. "Besides, why don't you just conjure some flowers or something?"

"Yeah, I guess," James seemed lost in thought. "I could give Lily lilies!"

"Fitting," Peter mused.

"Sarah doesn't like flowers," Remus bit his lip. "Maybe a teddy bear?" he looked at James for confirmation.

James shrugged. "Worth a shot," he said.

"Yeah, alright. It's better than nothing I guess," Remus said and he and James went to work at conjuring their gifts.

Sirius looked at the table to his left and saw a rare sight; Remus wasn't taking notes in Transfiguration. Instead, he was whispering things in Sarah's ear and she kept blushing and giggling and kept her hand constantly on Remus's upper arm. Sirius looked in front of him, wanting to send notes to James but instead found him gazing intently at the back of Lily's head. As a last resort, Sirius turned to Peter, hoping to get some kind of normal behaviour but was disappointed to find Peter with his arm around Lisa's shoulders as he and her talked. Sirius looked to the front of the classroom again and rolled his eyes. He knew one thing was for sure; he certainly hadn't forgotten it was Valentine's Day; he just tried his best not to think about it. It reminded him too much of Judith.

Sirius's eyes automatically found Judith's dark, long, shiny hair. He stared at her longingly. He knew another thing that was certain; if he and Judith were still together, they definitely wouldn't be sitting in Transfiguration right now.

As if sensing Sirius's gaze and his thoughts, Judith turned around and locked eyes with him. The movement stunned Sirius so much that he blinked and quickly averted his eyes. He found it very scary that so many emotions could be brought to the surface with the tiniest bit of connection; even just a millisecond of eye contact.

Warily, Sirius looked back at Judith and discovered she now had her head resting on her arms and she was staring out of the window beside her. Sirius rested his head on his hand and gazed at her. He so badly wanted her run his hands through her soft hair, he wanted to plant a kiss on top of her head, he wanted to hug her and hold her when she's upset. But most of all, he wanted to simply chat to her; ask her how she was, ask her how her Christmas was, how were her family. Sirius was surprised at himself that something so simple could be wanted so badly.

He was brought out his daydream however, by an extremely loud giggle from Sarah. He turned around and scowled at her; she realised how loud she'd been and covered her mouth with her hand and her face had turned bright red. Remus was laughing at her and she was giving him 'shh-ing' gestures.

"Mr Lupin and Miss Allen, would you kindly like to share your joke with the rest of the class?" Professor McGonagall's sharp voice rang through the classroom. Sirius's head turned to look at her and he saw her with her arms folded, her lips in a thin line and her foot tapping impatiently. Every whisper ceased as every head turned to stare at Remus and Sarah who had now gone very red. Sirius grinned evilly as he settled his head on his arms. Served them right for distracting his daydreaming…

"Hey beautiful," James's soft voice reached Lily's ears as she walked into the Room of Requirement. She turned around and saw James standing at the door she'd just entered from. She couldn't help but grin as he produced a large bunch of lilies from behind his back and handed them to her.

"Hello," she beamed as he approached her, mirroring her grin.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said as he handed her the flowers.

"Thank you," she said quietly and took the bunch from James as he leant down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. She felt herself blush and just as James was pulling away, she moved her head and kissed his lips. James was taken by surprise but a good surprise nonetheless. It didn't take him long to get rid of the shock and moved his arms around her waist, deepening the kiss. She giggled.

"James, you'll ruin the flowers," she said into the kiss.

"Mmm, I don't really care," he replied and pulled her even closer. She dropped the bouquet and snaked her arms around his neck, pulling herself as close as she could get to him. Her fingers tugged absently at the ends of James's hair and as she did so, he tightened his grip.

"I love you so much," Lily whispered and James stopped kissing her abruptly. He pulled away and stared at her intently. She frowned. "What?"

"You love me," he said, a smile playing on his lips.

"Well, yeah…" Lily shrugged. "I have told you before.

"Yeah but only once and we were potentially battling for our lives," James smiled. "But you really meant it?"

Lily stared into James's beautiful hazel eyes. "Of course I did," she whispered and James positively beamed.

"I love you too, you know that?" James rushed to tell her.

Lily giggled and blushed. "Well, I do now."

James grinned again and roughly met his lips with hers.

James and Lily walked back to the common room hand in hand. It was about five minutes until curfew so not many pupils were still out in the corridors. James let go of Lily's hand but just as she was about to protest, he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. Lily smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Y'know, maybe we should just go public," James said.

Lily looked up at him. "You think?"

"Yeah, I mean we'll have to sometime, why not now?"

Lily opened her mouth to respond but was cut off when they heard footsteps behind them. They quickly separated and turned to see who it was. Lily blushed furiously and James's expression turned to stone when they saw Severus Snape gawking at them from the other end of the corridor.

"I thought you told me you two weren't together," Severus said venomously at Lily.

"W-well we weren't until…"

"Until when?" Severus demanded.

"Hey, don't speak to her like that!" James defended stepping up to Severus.

"James, it doesn't matter –"

"Yes it does!" James exclaimed. "This guy can't just come in and demand to know everything about your life!"

"James, he's my friend!" Lily insisted and James looked at her incredulously.

"Your friend?! Lily this is the guy who's a Death Eater! How can he be your friend?!"

"James!"

"Do you have proof that I'm a Death Eater?" Severus spoke up.

"Yeah I do!" James said, turning to face Severus again.

"And what's that?"

"You're forgetting who I'm friends with Snivellous. Do you not remember the day you ganged up on Sirius in the bathroom? You asked him to become one of you?"

Lily's expression was shocked and looked between Severus and James, unsure who to believe. Severus had a satisfied sneer on his face as he realised how annoyed he was making James. James stared at Severus with a face free of emotion.

"Oh I remember that day and I'd watch out if I were you. The Dark Lord seems pretty interested on what went on and how much talent was reported back to him on the night of the famous party you and your mother hosted." James's jaw clenched and Severus grinned at the reaction he provoked. He started to laugh although it was cold and humourless. He turned and set off down the corridor again, back to his common room in the dungeons.

Lily turned to look at James with fear etched into her features. "James –"

"Don't worry Lily –"

"James, we have to help him!"

James stared at Lily with his mouth hanging open. "What?" he spluttered.

"He's lost, James, he doesn't realise what he's part of; he doesn't realise how better a life he could have if he joined our side!" Lily said, grabbing onto James's arm and holding it tight. James however, shrugged it off.

"I'm not helping him Lily. I'm never helping him," James stated firmly.

"James, please – he's my friend!"

"Your friend?!" James exclaimed, his eyebrows invisible behind his hair. Lily blushed under James's intense stare. "He's a Death Eater Lily! He tortures Muggle borns, he called you a Mudblood, he mingles with Bellatrix and Lucious Malfoy. If you insist on having friends like that then you can forget about me."

James left Lily with a burning gaze before turning on his heel and walking smartly away from Lily.

AN: So this chapter is a birthday present (and card) to one of my best friends Sarah... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH! :D love youuu! :D *kiss hug*

Anyways, what did you think of Valentine's Day? I was originally going to center this around Remus/Sarah but they have enough drama coming their way so instead I focused it on Jily :D was it okay? Let me know your thoughts! And I thought I'd throw in a gay couple because I was actually considering making one of the Marauders gay *coughSiriuscough* but then I realised I have way too big a crush on him :P I just put the couple in because I wanted you all to know that I'm in no way against gays :)

Thanks sooooo much for the 71 reviews on this story! It made my week when I saw how many I had. My goal was actually 20 reviews so I'm very, very happy :)

Thanks for reading guys and please, please review... it'll make me write faster :P
LupinsGirl98 xx